Friday my mother drove up to New York from Maryland to visit for a couple of days, and much to my surprise, gave me an antique gateleg table that she bought when she was about my age and living in New Orleans. She also brought cut crystal wine glasses, a stunning stainless steel Oneida coffee set from the '70s, a beautiful floral-patterned pitcher with "Saxony, 1865" written on a yellowed curling slip of paper inside, a deepest sapphire blue inlaid vase from China, a tiny teapot for one covered with violets, a hurricane lamp, a crystal decanter, a set of midnight blue china plates, a glass vase from Finland, and a Lovegrove and Brown carafe I'd long admired, both at home and at Moss. It was all rather jaw-dropping, especially as my mother's apartment in the chic downtown area of a close-in DC suburb previously resembled something between an overstuffed market stall at Clignancourt and Dresden's Green Vault. I was very touched and am thoroughly enjoying my aesthetically and functionally improved environs.
Friday evening, we had dinner at Petrarca Vino e Cucina, an excellent choice followed by Art School Confidential at the Angelika Film Center and then the Devon Sproule show at Pete's Candy Store, which was, as expected, the living end. Saturday, we had brunch at Palacinka, my all time favorite cafe, anywhere. Having so much fun with my mother must have translated into some good shopping karma because I found a queen-size fuschia, shell pink and grass green comforter patterned with a tangle of chrysanthemum blossoms on the sale shelf at Anthropologie in SoHo for thirty dollars, shortly before I plucked a very vintage Gucci clutch out of the "$10 or less" basket in front of a shop a few blocks over! Dinner was delivery from 66, along with a couple of morbidly fascinating episodes of true crime shows that TiVo had recorded. On Sunday, having a car in the city was the perfect excuse to drop 150+ books off at Housing Works Used Book Cafe, as a result of some thorough spring cleaning (not to mention a subtle paradigm shift). I am, after all, a minimalist at heart!
Perfect. Weekend. God!
Posted by: Elizabeth | May 08, 2006 at 07:18 PM
Sounds like a fabulous weekend with mom + SUCH treasures. Lovely.
Posted by: Ms. Jen Bekman | May 08, 2006 at 11:40 PM